Civil Municipal Magazine Aug 2023

9 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 8 Source- nbaa.org , Ben Goldstein, First published July 20, 20233 The FAA has formally approved the certification plan for Reliable Robotics’ continuous autopilot engagement system, marking a critical milestone on the startup’s path to certifying the system as a retrofit for the Cessna Caravan 208. The Project-Specific Certification Plan is a broad road map that outlines major aspects of the supplemental type certification (STC) program, including the Certification Basis, Means of Compliance, Certification Deliverables and Issue Papers. Acceptance of the document by the FAA concludes more than four years of work since Mountain View, California-based Reliable Robotics first submitted its draft certification plan to the agency, CEO Robert Rose tells the AAM Report. “Getting the overarching certification plan approved is important because it’s formally what ties all these elements together,” Rose says. “It means that now the FAA has formally agreed to go forward with this program—and if we actually do the things that are outlined in the certification plan—then knock on wood, we should be certified at the completion of our work.” With the certification plan now formally approved, Reliable Robotics will shift its focus to executing on the plan’s contents, including through an “immense level” of flight testing and a “whole lot” of system validation and hardware validation, according to Rose. “Now is the part where we have to actually deliver the thing that we’ve promised,” Rose says. “There’s a huge amount of flight testing we have to do to demonstrate in the real world that this system actually works, and a big simulator component, too, as well as validation of the simulator itself. We also have to validate each RELIABLE ROBOTICS’ CERTIFICATION PLAN FORMALLY APPROVED BY FAA OPENING LINES